Waterfall
by ghost-orchid
Summary: Everybody wants what they can't have. Or can they? DanzigerBess
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters from _Earth 2._

**Summary: **Everyone wants what they can't have. An older story, and a little less angsty than my normal stuff.

Waterfall

He knew it was wrong just as fully as he knew it was futile, but that didn't put any kind of checkrein on his mind or on his dreams. John Danziger wasn't the kind of man to let thoughts of women obsess him, but the time had come for him to admit to a painful and embarrassing truth: he had a crush. What's more, he had a crush on a woman he could never hope to have.

When they'd started out on G-889, he'd developed an eye for Devon Adair. Only natural, since she was the leader of the Earth Advance expedition–now he supposed he'd call it a colony, half-assed though it might be at the moment–and she was exactly what he had been drawn to in women all his life: strong, confident, with a big helping of idealism, and as dominant as he was. Life with her would be a constant pleasant struggle for the upper hand. Besides, he had always had a thing for brunettes.

Strange that it was her hair he'd noticed first. He'd not really thought about that hair until his current fascination had flowered. Now he couldn't close his eyes at night without imagining what her hair would feel like flowing over his chest as she lay sleeping in his arms or the tickle of its length over his thighs as she took him into her mouth. At moments like that he had to relieve his need for her, quickly and as silently as possible in deference to his daughter sleeping mere feet away, imagining her slim body on top of his, rocking back and forth, hearing that sweet voice moaning, "John, John," and biting back his groan of completion. How could he not have noticed that waterfall of mahogany ringlets falling around her shoulders, dancing when the wind touched it or she made the slightest of movements. From her hair, his attention had wandered to her face, the wide mouth and long-lashed expressive eyes, then to the slender body attached.

Bess. He tasted the name in his mind as he sat by the campfire, absently eating and letting the talk of the colonists wash over him like a drone of bees. Not that he had ever called her that, of course. Whenever he spoke to her, which was seldom because his work rarely brought him into contact with her, he always held her at bay with the propriety of "Mrs. Martin." But his eyes had a pesky tendency to follow her whenever he caught sight of her in a crowd, that mane of brown hair catching light like a beacon.

Why had this happened to him? He asked himself that question at odd moments, when he was taking a stubborn piece of machinery apart or brushing his daughter's hair. Even if Bess weren't married to that useless rich boy, she wasn't meant for him. Devon was. She already had Uly and he thought she would be an equally good mother to True. Personality-wise, he thought they'd probably get along fine if they married. It went without saying that she was a fine-looking woman, so nights with her wouldn't call for hazardous duty pay. More than that, he and Devon made sense. They were the leaders of the Earth Advance, so it was perfectly logical that they should become a couple in every way. So why wasn't his heart convinced of that?

Bess was–well, first of all, she had no children. True loved her, he knew, but he didn't know what sort of mother she'd make. She was way too delicate for him, like a china doll or a Pre-Raphaelite angel like he'd seen in old paintings. Devon had a tensile physical toughness that Bess lacked. But she wasn't weak, either. Not like her fancy-pants husband. Martin should be taking care of her, trying to lighten her burdens, not adding to them. More than once Danziger had seen Bess shouldering more than her fair share of the work and falsely claiming that she didn't need her husband's help because he had more important things to do. It offended him that Martin would let his woman do his work for him. It angered him that she seemed to think it was his due.

Second, Bess wasn't meant for this kind of life. He knew next to nothing about her past, only that she'd grown up on Earth. Probably she was from some rich Miners Union family because she exuded an air of refinement that came from money. He'd never heard a word of complaint from her, despite the fact that she must be a stranger to hard work and deprivation. What had possessed Morgan Martin to drag this delicate, beautiful woman onto a frontier world like this? If she'd been his woman, she would be safe right now, sitting in a living room somewhere and playing the piano for him and True, or something like that, not helping dig latrines. A lady like her shouldn't know what a latrine is.

Third, and most important, Bess Martin was a married woman. As far as he could tell, she loved her husband. That should be the end of his feelings. Why would she even notice a big lunk like him when she had her rich boy? Of course, now that his money meant next to nothing and the only assets he had as far as the colony was concerned were his intelligence and physical strength, she might not see him as such a desirable mate anymore. Martin spoke to her harshly and treated her like a servant a lot of the time, which made Danziger itch to punch him in the face. He had no idea how long she'd put up with his superior airs, but the fact that she had indicated the situation wasn't about to change. Even if she did leave him, they would still be married. New Pacifica had no courts, no lawyers, no authority to dissolve a marriage contract. Even if by some miracle she decided she wanted him, Danziger, Morgan Martin would still have her.

Emerging from his depressing musings, he looked around the campfire for True and she wasn't there. An instant of panic gripped his heart. She had the habit of wandering off, and most of the time she wound up in a helluva lot of trouble. He hurried through the camp, willing himself to stay calm, until he caught sight of his daughter. Danziger could hardly believe it. True lay on the ground in front of the Martins' tent, curled up in Bess's lap, sound asleep. For a long few moments he envied True. Bess held a paperback book in her hand and was reading aloud from it. The firelight gleamed on the book's gold cover and on her hair. What did her hair smell like? Shaking himself mentally, he reminded himself of the excellent reasons why she would never be his and stepped forward into the circle of light.

Bess looked up at his approach and put a finger to his lips. The sight made his insides heave with lust. "True's asleep," she whispered.

He knelt beside her, looking down at them, and kept his voice low as well. "I hope she didn't bother you. I know you must be exhausted."

"Oh, I'm all right. Just some sore muscles." Danziger wished he could massage her until the soreness fell away. Her husband certainly wouldn't. "And True's no bother. She saw me reading and wanted me to read to her. She fell asleep about twenty minutes ago, but I like reading out loud." Her voice was light and girlish, not like Devon's, but Danziger found he couldn't remember the sound of Devon's voice at the moment.

"What are you reading?" He didn't care, but it was an excuse to linger with her, the warmth of the fire enfolding them. _It's a crush, just a crush, _he told himself. _Devon's the one I belong with. _But his heart still refused to listen.

"_The Great Gatsby. _It's a twentieth-century novel I found in Morgan's things. It's about a man who thinks money can buy him his heart's desire."

"Does it?" he asked.

"No. He loses everything in the end. But it's a beautiful book regardless." She closed the novel and laid it down carefully on the ground at her side. "Do you want to take her back now?"

Danziger realized he wanted nothing more than to sit here with her and True and foster the illusion, for a little while, that they were a family. True needed a mother and she loved Bess. But the fragile moment ripped apart when Martin called out, "Bess! Where the hell are you?" and she flinched, causing True to move and moan in her sleep. "I had better take her. Martin sounds like he needs you."

Her big eyes were dark and unreadable, although some emotion flickered in them that he didn't recognize. Or maybe that was a trick of the light. "Morgan can wait for a minute."

Leaning forward, Danziger slid his arms under True's knees and back. His forearm brushed against Bess's thighs and his skin tingled at the contact, even through the material of her pants. She slid out from under True and a long curl of her hair brushed against his cheek. He inhaled the scent like a drowning man breathing in oxygen. Some tropical flower, he felt sure, although he couldn't identify it. The aroma made him slightly dizzy, and he staggered a little as he stood up with his daughter in his arms. True shifted but didn't wake. He heard Martin moving around and knew he should leave. Knew it and resented it. "Thank you, Mrs. Martin."

She smiled. "You're welcome, Mr. Danziger."

He felt her eyes burning into him as he walked away and wished Morgan Martin into hell with a venom he never knew he possessed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from _Earth 2._

**Summary: **Bess has some ruminations of her own.

Waterfall–Chapter 2

Not until later that night, when Morgan had rolled off her and gone to sleep, did Bess allow herself to think about him, stepping into the firelight, big and solid and safe. Danziger. John. In her own mind she could call him that; she just had to watch herself in public. They weren't on a first-name basis. She'd been physically attracted to him since the first time she'd seen him aboard the ship, but the attraction was something she had shrugged off. She loved Morgan. She was loyal to Morgan. Trouble was, it wouldn't go away. And the more she saw of him, the stronger it got. The safest thing to do was avoid him, but she found that impossible since True had taken such a liking to her. Understandable, since she had been the only one who believed the girl when Julia had been uncovered as a traitor, so True had imprinted on her as someone worthy of trust. It flattered her, and she couldn't deny she loved the little girl. Due to the pollution and radiation on earth, Bess would never have children of her own, so her makeshift mothering of Danziger's daughter was all she could hope for. And she could hope for nothing at all from him. Bess accepted that and tried to push him out of her mind as she went to sleep.

_She lay on her stomach in the bed, cheek pillowed on the back of her hand. Morgan had risen earlier, telling her to get a couple more hours sleep, but she found it impossible to doze off again, so she hovered in a limbo between sleep and waking. Bess heard motion in the room and a smile curved her lips. He had slipped back into their quarters to make love before the entire encampment woke up for the day. Her smile broadened when she felt his hands on her body, pushing the sheet down until he bared her entire torso. Then his hands dug into her back, into the soreness work had left into her muscles, and began kneading. She couldn't suppress a moan of mingled pleasure and pain. His touch gentled a little then, but kept working on her back for minutes until the muscles were limber again. It surprised her a little, because Morgan wasn't a man who spent a lot of time on foreplay, but maybe coming to New Pacifica had changed him somehow, made him more aware that they were all the other one had. Maybe she was more important to him now. She knew beyond doubt that he did love her, but he displayed affection as seldom as he spent time on touching her before sex. It hurt her a little, but it was just his way._

_When Bess tried to roll over, he held her down with a hand between her shoulder blades and swept her hair off her back, baring the nape of her neck. An instant later she felt his mouth there, hot and demanding, his tongue against her skin. She groaned as she felt his weight cover her, his body hard with need but not crushing her. He must have kicked the sheet down, because nothing separated their bodies. They rolled over until she was lying on her side, his arm wrapped loosely around her waist as the other one explored her flesh. Bess let her head fall back onto his shoulder as his fingertips moved lightly over her breast, hesitating as her nipple hardened under his touch, circling its pebbly surface as she moaned and_ _arched into his hand. His other hand moved across the sensitive skin of her stomach and lower as he dropped kisses over her shoulder._ _Arousal spiked higher_ _in her and she moaned, "Morgan."_

"_I'm not Morgan," he replied. Instantly Bess recognized the voice._

_A gasp escaped her and she tried to pull away. His arm held her fast, forcing her to remain pressed tight to him, feeling his hardness rubbing against her._ _"Danziger, what are you doing?"_

"_John." His breath warmed her neck and she shivered. "I want to hear you call me John. You know how long I've been waiting for that?"_

_Even while he spoke his free hand kept moving between her legs, driving the fire there higher and higher. Oh, God, it had never been like this with Morgan, never this heat and need. The disloyal thought faded as she dug her nails into the arm around her waist. Bess didn't know if it was an attack or an embrace._ _He groaned and sank his teeth into her shoulder, sucking hard enough to bruise her, and his loss of control broke her resistance. "John, John," she moaned._

"_That's it," he whispered. "You like it?"_

_Bess was beyond lying. "Yes. Please don't stop." If only the real world didn't exist..._

"_I won't." Her body squirmed under his ministrations, moving helplessly. John held her still as much as he could and she felt him moving her ass against his stiff cock. "None of this has to end, Bess. This can be more real than the real."_

_Desire spiraled through her until she lost herself in it. Nothing existed but her flesh and his. His name left her lips in strangled gasps as she felt herself closing in on ecstasy. A few more moments, just a few more moments, and she'd be there. He'd take her there._

"_Want that, Bess? Do you want this to be real?"_

"_Yes!" She screamed as the pleasure burst over her, pulsing through every pore, and through a haze she felt him climax, the heat of his come spurting over her back. I want this, I want this..._

The convulsions of orgasm jolted her awake. Raising herself one on elbow, she looked around. Darkness still shrouded the camp and Morgan still slept the sleep of the ignorant beside her. Bess tried to get her breathing back to normal as she fought the drugged bliss of afterglow. What had that been? _What in the hell had that been? _A dream, clearly, but she had never had a dream like that before. Sex dreams, yes, even rare orgasms in dreams, but nothing like this. She lay back and reconstructed it in her mind. What made it different was its absolute realism. Textures had been just as real in the dream as the blanket which touched her skin, Danziger's body as warm and there as her husband's was now. For every moment she was dreaming, she had believed absolutely in its reality as she believed in the reality of herself lying in bed beside Morgan, pondering this experience. Of course she couldn't talk this over with him. He would take it as a tremendous blow to his ego and sulk for weeks. Danziger–now that was even more out of the question. He'd never shown the slightest spark of interest in her. Maybe joining the Eden Advance party had been a mistake and her mind was going? But that didn't feel right either. New Pacifica was everything she'd dreamed of back on polluted, dying Earth, despite the convicts and the Terrians. No, this had been the right choice. And why was she so bothered by what amounted to a hiccup of her subconscious mind? So she wanted to fuck John Danziger–big deal. Never going to happen. The dream was just wishful thinking, nothing else. That made her feel a little better. When she checked the chronometer, she found she still had three hours before she had to rise and went back to sleep. No dreams came this time, vivid or otherwise. Bess didn't know whether to feel disappointed or not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from _Earth 2 _& am not making any money off this.

**Summary: **Danziger realizes something disturbing is going on.

Waterfall–Chapter 3

The encampment fell away behind Danziger as he drove the 'Rail into uncharted territory. He'd drawn scouting duty today, which he felt grateful for because it gave him time alone to figure out what was going on. He'd been confused about Devon and Bess for a long time and trying to ignore it, but last night had convinced him that deeper, weirder things were happening than he had thought. Once again he stared down at the marks on his left forearm. It frightened him, but he had said nothing to anyone. Rational explanations were a dime a dozen. Trouble was that he didn't believe any of them. Not after that dream.

_He'd entered Bess's tent just before dawn, to find her sprawled on her stomach, those red-brown curls spread untidy across her pillow, only the tip of her nose and chin visible to him in the darkness. Martin was nowhere around, and Danziger didn't spare a thought for her husband's whereabouts. It was unnecessary. He was unimportant._

_Shedding his clothing, he settled himself next to Bess. Pulling the sheet down to bare her back, he did what he had wanted to do earlier that night and began massaging the soreness out of her muscles. She moaned and he eased up a little; after all, he didn't want to hurt her. It took several minutes before suppleness replaced the stiffness in her back, but he didn't mind. The touch of her skin under his palms sent electric shocks all through him. He could have done this to_ _her for the rest of the night, but she had a different idea._

_Bess tried to turn over, but Danziger moved his hand to the center of her back and pressed her into the mattress again. His other hand he used to push the waterfall of curls away so he could admire the grace of her back and shoulders, her body gleaming pale in the dim light. The need for her raged along his every nerve ending, every cell, making him burn with its sheer force. He touched his mouth to the back of her neck, breathing in the fragrance of her skin and hair, lapping at the line of her spine with his tongue. She shivered at the kiss and he rolled over on top of her, needing the head-to-toe contact with her body. When Bess groaned, he smiled. She needed him just as much._

_Her soft warmth went straight to his head and he wrapped an arm around her waist, rolling them over so she was on her side. The tropical scent of her surrounded him. He breathed in, trying to saturate himself with it. This was crazy, every single aspect of this situation was insane, but the protests of his rational mind washed away as she shifted against him and made a contented noise. Danziger was lost._

_He loosened_ _his hold on her waist so that hand could caress her breast, his callused fingers brushing gently across her nipple, which hardened instantly. Her responsiveness pleased him. He took the hard little bud and rolled it between his fingertips as his other hand slid over her belly to the soft tangle of hair between her legs. All the time he dropped kisses over her bare shoulder, teasing her with the light touch. She squirmed with pleasure and whispered, "Morgan." _

_A shaft of anger shot through him and he snapped, "I'm not Morgan."_

_She tried to pull away, but he tightened his hold on her and kept his fingers moving on the slick, hot flesh between her thighs, feeling her tremors mounting and her body arching into his. "Danziger, what are you doing?"_

_He heard the tremble of arousal in her voice and grinned. "John. I want to hear you call me John. You know how long I've been waiting for that?"_

_Bess moved with him, rubbing herself against his body even as her nails dug hard into his forearm. The stinging pain broke his tenuous control and he sank his teeth into her shoulder, marking her as his. A faint tang of her blood filled his mouth as he sucked on her skin. "John, John," she moaned. Her passion sounded as wonderful as he'd thought it would. "You like this?" she murmured._

_He could barely speak through the fog of desire. "Yes. God, yes."_

"_None of this has to end, John. This can be more real than the real." _

_All he could feel was her bare skin against his hardness, and it was driving him crazy with lust. He buried his face in her hair and tried to distract himself. Her hips moved with the maddening rhythm of his fingers on her clit and he clung to the remnants of his control. If only she were really his..._

"_Want that, John? Do you want this to be real?"_

"_Yes," he gasped as he felt her begin to spasm and a scream of satisfaction broke the quiet of the encampment. Too much for him to take, the sight and sound of her pleasure, and he came with a dizzying rush over the warm skin of her back._

Under ordinary circumstances, Danziger would write the entire event off as a surprisingly vivid erotic dream, but the marks on his arm lifted it out of the ordinary. When he'd awakened the next morning, he'd been sporting eight crescent-shaped gouges on his left forearm. They must have oozed blood in the night, since dried blood decorated both his skin and the sheets. He would bet money they matched Bess Martin's nails exactly.

For an instant after he first saw them, he thought he must have been sleepwalking and the dream had been real, but then he saw True still sleeping in her bedroll and his clothes, undisturbed since he fell asleep last night. Plus, if he had walked over to the Martin tent, his feet would be dirty, which they weren't. The logical explanation was that he had made the marks himself during the night, but his mind wouldn't leave it at that. It was just a dream, but this had been the most realistic dream of his life. Awakening had been a transition from wakefulness to wakefulness, which both unsettled and disoriented him. Only a firm grip on reality enabled him to put the experience of touching Bess aside as fantasy. It pained him that it had been.

His mind dwelled on the night before for the rest of the day, while he struggled to fix the machinery that kept breaking and maintain what still worked, as well as keep an eye on True. Not many worries there, though–she was playing tag with Uly while Devon watched.

Devon. Danziger still found her very attractive and didn't think he'd turn down a chance to get better acquainted with her physically, but the sensation of Bess's body against him still lingered. He wished he had the right to touch her the way he'd dreamed of. He ran his gaze over Devon, admiring the slender body and her smooth, straight dark hair, but his body didn't manifest so much as a flicker of interest. _Tired, _he told himself, irritated. _Just a bad night's sleep, nothing else, not side effects of a teenage-boy crush._

She strode over to him and he admired the smooth motion of her legs as she walked. As usual, she was all business. "Can you take scouting duty today? Walman's sprained his ankle."

"No problem. I'll get going right now." Knowing he would be alone with his thoughts for a few hours raised his spirits. That weird dream was a puzzle, like broken bits of metal, and all he needed was time to uncover how they fit together.

On the way out of camp, he detoured by the Martins'. Bess was hanging laundry outside, her hair ruffled by the breeze. Martin emerged from the tent and put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. She flinched at his touch. "What's wrong?" he asked, sliding down the shoulder of her flowered cotton blouse. He whistled a little and placed a brief kiss on the bared skin. "Guess I got a little rough with you last night. Forgive me?"

"Always," she answered, bending to retrieve the freshly washed shirt that she had dropped. Danziger was close enough to see the bruise and knew beyond any doubt that it had come from his mouth, his teeth, when he nipped her shoulder in that damned dream.

He sighed as he drove the 'Rail across the plain the Eden Advance party was approaching. Bess had not bitten her own shoulder, so the theory of the simple sex dream went out the window. Then again, nothing had been simple since they landed on G-889.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from _Earth 2._

**Summary: **Things take an unexpected turn for Bess.

Waterfall–Chapter 4

Bess glanced into her tent after she finished hanging out the laundry, only to be greeted by the unpleasant and increasingly familiar sight of Morgan, lying on his back atop their bedrolls, wearing his VR headset. Her heart sank at the sight, but she tried to dismiss her concerns. He'd had a couple of good days where he hadn't even touched the headset, and he was a sensitive man who hadn't experienced the hardships growing up that she had. It was understandable that he needed some temporary escape from his current situation. Still, it bothered her that he spent so much time in VR. She covered for him as much as she could, but there was a limit to the lies she could tell. The unbidden thought rose up that her father wouldn't have needed to dodge reality that way. Life on G-889 would be a vacation in paradise for him. Then she squelched that disloyal thought. Sometimes it was hard to stick up for him when she compared his efforts to the rest of the people in Eden Advance.

Her hand moved up to her shoulder, brushing over the patch of tender, bruised skin. Most likely it was as Morgan had said: he'd been too rough with her when they made love the night before, and the hickey had resulted from that. But, try as she might, she couldn't recall Morgan kissing her shoulder at all. The only thing she could remember with perfect clarity was that damned dream. A shiver chased over her skin as she flashed on Danziger's biting her while she squirmed with ecstasy in his arms. How in the world could a dream–a _dream, _mind you–supply better sex than she'd had with her real live husband in a long time? Earlier she'd seen him passing through camp, and his physical presence had hit her like a wave of warmth. Sensual awareness of him filled her to overflowing, her skin tingling at his proximity. When Morgan had touched her on the place where the dream-John had marked her, a bolt of repulsion had shot through her. And Bess knew that Danziger had overhead his comment on their activities the night before. Why did it bother her that he knew she and Morgan had made love last night?

When True appeared at the entrance to her tent a few hours later, Bess was desperate for a distraction. Searching through her belongings, she retrieved an antique guide to Earth herbs that had been handed down in her family for years. It had purely sentimental value, of course, since any native herbs had turned poisonous due to the pollution levels, but Bess cherished the book as a symbol of her family's endurance in the face of hardship. She knew that information contained with in the guide would most likely be inaccurate, but G-889 was an Earth-type planet, so some of their plants must be similar. She might even be able to find some with medicinal value, an idea she liked. Anything that kept her away from Dr. Julia Heller was A-OK with her. Her betrayal still rankled many members of Eden Advance, but she tried to push away those unpleasant thoughts. Lately, it seemed she'd been refusing to think about a lot of things. "True, would you like to help me go hunt herbs? I'm going to take samples and bring them back for analysis."

The girl's face lit up. "Can Uly come too? His mom's doing something with Yale and he's bored."

"Let him check with her first. If she says it's okay, he can come along."

"But you didn't ask me to check with Dad first." Before Bess could open her mouth, True smiled and said, "But he's gone scouting, so I couldn't anyway. He'd let me, though. He likes you." Then Danziger's daughter was gone, hurrying to find Uly so he could get Devon's permission to come with them. Not for the first time she wondered about the relationship between Devon and Danziger. Were they lovers? She doubted it, since the conditions here were such that they couldn't hope to conduct even a semi-private affair without becoming the talk of the encampment. But even their apparent celibacy didn't stop the gossip inspired by the tension between them. Several members of the party even maintained a betting pool on when they would give in and sleep together. She never listened to the gossip, walking away when the subject came up, but it upset her. The logic in it was obvious, but that didn't make her like it better and she felt ungenerous for being grateful that Danziger and Devon had not yet found happiness together.

True returned, Devon's son right behind her. "She said it's okay as long as we don't get too far from camp. And Uly has to be back by dinnertime."

"I don't think that will be a problem." Bess and the two children headed into the forest around the campsite.

Two hours later, she wondered why she thought this would be a relaxing outing. True and Uly both competed for her attention, shouting out that they'd found an herb and needed her to come identify it. The only reason she hadn't run both her legs off already was that she'd insisted everyone stay in sight of everyone else. But it had been productive; already she'd found several herbs that looked identical to some she'd found in the guide, and, best of all, they had medicinal uses. Who would have thought G-889 would harbor chamomile, pennyroyal, foxglove, and four different kinds of mint? When Uly found the goldenseal, or a close cousin of it, Bess decided they'd had enough. "Let's head back, gang. I think we've done enough for one day. We don't want to pick the area dry."

"Will we come back?" asked Uly.

"If we stay here long enough. Even if we don't, after we analyze the herbs we'll have a fair idea what's available to us on this planet and can look for them as we travel. Different herbs grow in different climates, so we'll find new ones later." Bess added the goldenseal sample to the bag she was carrying and they started back toward the camp.

"Do you think Dad's back from scouting yet?" True wanted to know.

"Probably not. You said he took the 'Rail, so–" Her words cut off with a gasp as someone stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed her, hurling her against the trunk of the tree. She fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. True screamed and ran to Bess, but the man's focus was now on Uly, who'd begun backing up.

"Stay there, boy. We don't want anybody hurting your mama, now, do we?"

"She's not my mother," Uly said before he broke into a run. Bess prayed he'd make it to the camp before this man could kill her and True. The man chased after him, but the little boy was too fast and he gave up.

"Just be the two of you, then. Can't say I'm sorry. Haven't seen a woman in years on this ball of dirt." He jerked Bess to her feet. "I would have liked the other one better, the thin one who's in charge, but you'll do."

True hit at him. "Don't touch her!"

The man backhanded her casually, and she fell to the ground. Bess struggled to go to her, but her captor wrapped a hand on her hair and jerked her head back. "None of that, now. You and I and that little girlie are going to be a family for a while, so it's best you just settle down."

"You planning on letting us go at some point?" She knew anything he said would be a lie, but she wanted to know how bad things would get. True would not suffer physically for trying to protect her again, she promised herself.

"Sure, girl. When I get tired of you." He jerked True to her feet and fastened leather collars around both their necks. Bess almost gagged when she realized what he was doing. He'd put them on _leashes, _for God's sake. When he saw her anger, he smiled. "Just a little precaution in case you decide to run. Can't have my new family running off." Due to the collars, Bess couldn't even give a last look in the direction of the encampment before the man dragged them deeper into the forest.

They'd been traveling hard for hours when the man finally decided that they could rest. It was well after nightfall when they stopped. Long ago Bess had lost her sense of direction, and anyway she had the feeling he'd been leading them in circles for a while to confuse them. Her hopes for a rescue party from Eden Advance had dimmed, but she was sure they knew what had happened by now. Danziger would be insane with fear and fury. True was all he had, and she'd let his daughter get kidnapped by one of the convicts that had been dumped on G-889. Would he ever forgive her?

The convict began moving brush, and the mouth of a cave was soon revealed. He shoved Bess and True through the entrance, then left them in darkness while he replaced the concealing screen of foliage. "Don't think they'll try to follow you at night, but it pays to be careful. You know how to build a fire, girl?"

She nodded, and he unsnapped the collar from her neck. "Then get to it. I'm hungry." Bess knelt to the pile of brush in the center of the cave and hoped there was enough ventilation so that she and True didn't suffocate from the smoke. But the man had picked his cave well. The smoke lifted upward and disappeared out a natural vent at the top of the cave. In the daytime that would serve as a signal flare to any rescue party, but she sensed he wasn't stupid enough to let that happen. In the dancing light of the fire, she noticed four skinned animals she couldn't identify on a mat of leaves nearby. He saw where she was looking and grinned. "They make good eating." A spit already stood over the brushpile, so she began cooking the dead animals.

When she was done, he tore the cooked animal apart with his fingers, tossing some to her and True. Bess ate as little as possible, giving the little girl half of what she had. If the feeling she had about what was going to happen was accurate, she didn't need food on her stomach to vomit. Bess just hoped the man wouldn't decide to rape her in front of True.

But her worries on that proved groundless, as all he did was secure them to the wall before lying down on his meager bedroll. They kept silent until they heard him snoring. Then True whispered, "I'm scared, Bess."

"I know. So am I. But we've got to be brave. Devon's sent a rescue party after us by now and we just have to bide our time. They'll find us tomorrow. I'm sure of it." But inside she wasn't sure of that at all. "So until then, we just stay calm and don't do anything to make him mad. We'll be back at camp before you know it."

The talk seemed to cheer up True, who curled up next to her and fell asleep. Bess didn't go to sleep for some time because of her worries about the situation. The last thing she wanted was to wake up to this convict raping her or, worse, the girl. Danziger would literally kill her if that happens, and she wouldn't blame him a bit. Eventually exhaustion overcame her and she slept.

_Bess sat up with a scream, flailing about with her arms, trying to hit the man who'd touched her. She felt strong hands lock around her wrists and press her back into the bedroll. Wait a minute–bedroll? She and True had gone to sleep in the cave on the bare earth floor. Her cries of terror eased enough for her to hear the man's voice, speaking to her in soothing tones. "Wake up, Bess. You're having a nightmare. It's okay. Just wake up, sweetheart."_

"_Morgan?" she murmured._

"_What? What are you talking about, Bess?"_

_She opened her eyes and it was Danziger lying across her, her wrists held in his hands. Sunlight brightened the tent, which she recognized as his. "Danziger? What's going on?"_

"_You were having a bad dream. Belted me right in the nose when I tried to wake you up." He chuckled as he released her wrists and put his fingers to his nose. "You got a hell of a swing on you. I like it better when you use it on other people, though."_

"_True! Where's True?" Bess tried to roll to her knees, but he kept his weight on her and she had to lie flat._

"_Take it easy. She's outside playing with Uly. Devon said she'd watch them so we could get a little personal time to ourselves. Even gave me a day off from mechanic duty, if you can believe that."_

_Had the whole world gone crazy? The last thing she remembered was getting kidnapped, and now she had woken up with Danziger, who behaved like everything was normal and fine. "I can't believe any of this. Where's Morgan?"_

"_Who?"_

"_Morgan Martin, my husband!" She felt perilously close to tears. _

_Danziger didn't bother trying to hide his shock. "Bess, I'm your husband. We got married just before we left Earth with the Eden Advance party. Don't you remember that?_"

_The tears broke through her resistance and she began sobbing. He gathered her close and rocked her, making little shushing noises. "I want to call Julia. You're scaring me, Bess. Why do you think you were married to Morgan Martin?"_

_Ignoring his question, she_ _looked up at him, her face pleading. "Don't call Dr. Heller. I don't want anything to do with her. I'm fine. I just had a nightmare."_

"_Okay, but I want to know. Were you having a nightmare about being married to him?" A sharp chuckle escaped him. "In my book that would be grounds for hysterics."_

_Bess let the insult to Morgan pass. It was the least of her problems. "I dreamed True and I got kidnapped by some convict and he was holding us prisoner in a cave. The entrance was hidden behind a lot of brush. I don't know where because I think he led us around in circles for a while."_

"_What else do you remember?" Danziger rubbed her bare arms, and she felt herself beginning to relax. Just a nightmare. How could it be anything else, even if it had been so vivid? "The cave had a natural vent in the top to let smoke out. I thought you could find us that way, if he lit a fire in the day."_

"_Okay, that's enough for now." He eased them back into the bedroll and she fitted her body against his. Her arms went around him as he pulled the blankets up over them. "You're going to have to start having good dreams now, Bess. Ordinarily I'd feel insulted that you were married to Martin in this one but judging from your reaction, the dream was bad enough without me chewing you out."_

"_No chewing out, please, Danziger," she murmured. Warm and safe, hadn't felt this way in so long..._

"_Promise, if you stop calling me Danziger. It's John, remember? Husband, wife. John, Bess. You'll make True think we're fighting."_

"_We don't fight much." A thought occurred to her and she spoke without thought. "Did you ever think you'd rather be with Devon than with me?"_

_Laughter racked his body. "You get the weird notions, don't you, sweetheart?" She felt his lips brush against her forehead as he wrapped her tighter in his arms. "Whatever you ate before bed last night, stay away from it from now on."_

"_But did you?" _

_He shook his head._ _"From the moment back on Earth when I saw you, I was gone. She's a good-looking lady, but arguing every day isn't my idea of a marriage. You and I, now–we have our fights, but mostly we get along. Besides..." He let his lips fall onto the side of her neck and she felt his tongue slide over her skin. "If we didn't fight, how could we make up?"_

_Bess welcomed his touch with everything in her._ _Her arms went around him and she rubbed her cheek against the top of his head. "We weren't fighting, but can we make up anyway?"_

_She felt him smile against her skin._ _"I think I could arrange that." Danziger shifted against her until their faces were level and kissed her deeply, his tongue caressing her lips until they opened and she groaned into his mouth, digging her fingers into his shoulders to pull him even closer. But her sound of passion turned to pain instantly as she felt a blow to her head and a wave of the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life–as if her brain were being ripped in two–and she screamed._

"Thought you wasn't going to wake up, girl." The convict who'd kidnapped them hit her across the head again and dragged her to her feet. True, who'd awakened during the attack on Bess, tried to get to her feet but the man shoved her into the cave wall. She hit with a hollow thud and collapsed to the ground, motionless. Bess screamed and tried to wrench herself away from him, go to Danziger's daughter, but the convict just gripped her throat in his other hand and said, "Alive or dead, girl, it's all the same to me. You'd still be a woman."

The tidal waves of pain through her head all but blotted out clear thought, but she knew she had to protect True. If all he wanted was a woman, well, she was that. "You don't need to hurt us," she whispered. "I'll do what you want."


End file.
